Foreign thefts of Swiss hearts on the rise

Well-suited: most foreign spouses come from Europe Keystone

More and more Swiss are marrying non-Swiss – with German women and Italian men the spouses of choice, according to the Federal Statistical Office. 

While fewer couples in general are tying the knot in Switzerland, the number of bi-national couples continues to increase, almost doubling over the past 30 years, the office said in a reportExternal link published on Thursday. 

The 15,100 weddings involving two nationalities made up more than a third of the total in 2016. The number of Swiss-Swiss weddings last year dropped by around a third to 19,800. 

Overall, 10% of married people in Switzerland live in a bi-national marriage or family. 

The report noted that while 58% of Swiss who were born abroad married a non-Swiss, only 23% of Swiss born in Switzerland did. 

In the majority of bi-national marriages, the man is Swiss and the woman foreign, although Swiss women no longer lose their Swiss citizenship when they marry a foreigner (they did until 1992). 

Most foreign spouses come from Europe, with Swiss men preferring to propose to ladies from Germany, then Italy, Kosovo, France and Serbia, according to data from 2011-2016. Swiss women prefer Italians, then Germans, Kosovars, French men and Turks.